Fathers | Digital Dads

Becoming a Dad

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

I remember when I first found out that I was going to be a father. I was filled with excitement, fear, joy and a bunch of other emotions that you can’t really express unless you’ve been there.

Back then we were living in Virginia and away from all of our family and friends. The decision of how and when to tell people is never an easy thing to do, but we made the best of it and figured it out. We didn’t have things like Twitter or Facebook to tell masses of people at one time, so the news trickled out slowly and surely and it was always fun to have new people find out and get in touch.

This morning my good friend Clarence told the world that he is going to be a poppa and he did it in a way that I’ve never been part of before. He did it by posting the comic below on one of his projects called Planet Wifey. I’ve known about the news for a bit and I’m glad he got the chance (and felt that we were close enough) to tell me in person, but I love that so many other people will find out from this comic.

Planet Wife 2009-10-02

The one thing I tell every guy who tells me they are going to be a Dad for the first time is the same thing a friend from Bentley told me when I told him the news.

He looked me in the eyes and said, “You think you know that you are going to be a Dad, but you really don’t yet. Just wait and at some point, somewhere the news is really going to hit you and then you’ll know you are going to be a dad.”

I laughed it off and then I remember being at a red light, months later on my way home from work when this wave of “oh shit I’m going to be a Dad!” washed over me. I broke down crying and was filled with an even bigger mix of emotions then I had before. I laughed at myself as I realized this is what my friend meant. Now I knew I was going to be a dad.

So, now I give that same bit of advice to every new dad. I also always recommend The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips and Advice for Dads-to-Be as my book of choice for guys to read. I read them all and that is the one that stuck with me and was actually written in a way that a guy wants to read and I respected that.

Congrats to Clarence and to all the new Dads out there. It feels like something is in the water lately because there are a lot of new babies on the horizon.

What advice do you give to your friends when they tell you they are becoming fathers? I’d love to hear!

Tags: babies, Family, fathers, parenting
Posted in General Parenting | Comments

Who Needs a Dad Site?

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

I noticed over the past year or so that anytime I would blog about my family or kids on my personal blog that the posts would get more comments and more reactions then any other topic I might write about. Combine that with my passion for being a good father and the fact that I think Dads get a bum rap across all forms of media and that made me want to start this site.

Dylan and Emily Wedding

Of course the big reason is these two little people right here. This is my son Dylan and my daughter Emily. They are the reason I do a lot of things in life, but I wanted to do this to share my experiences with them and to share what I learn with you the reader. I certainly don’t have all the answers on how to be a good Dad or how best to raise kids, but I like to think that I am open to share what little I do know and I hope some of you get some good advice out of it.

The idea really started to come to a simmer last summer when I got thinking about how so many of my friends were what I called “Digital Dads.” We shared pictures of our kids online, uploaded home movies and spent a large chunk of time interacting in ways that our fathers never did. I wondered how this would change the next generation of kids. I wondered about this a lot.

I also work in the marketing world. I run a company called The Advance Guard and we work with brands big and small to build buzz, community and awareness around their products and services. We focus on building campaigns with disruptive technologies and social media. I also host a marketing podcast called Managing the Gray. Because of both of these I read about, plan and execute a variety of campaigns and I kept seeing Mommies getting all the attention while Dads sort of being forgotten about.

Now I know a lot of this is due to the fact that there are plenty of Dads involved in online media, but very few write about being a parent on a regular basis. At least I think this why most are ignored for the most part.

What I want out of this site is a way for three Dads (and maybe more some day) to share honest advice on being a Father in today’s world. The hope is to cover a variety of topics that any guy can use. We’ll be posting recipes, talking about sex, reviewing things and of course talking about raising our kids. No topic is off topic so expect some good variety in the coming weeks.

I’m a Digital Dad and damn proud of it. I hope you enjoy what you find here.